Interview with Kyle Kurtz
The voice of Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, MO
Episode 3 — Kyle Kurtz
Trenton Larkin: Voiceover is everywhere and you hear it every day from radio… “number one for new country 96.3 Hawkeye in the morning”…to TV… “My name is, Lady Whistledown, You do not know me, but I know you”…to movies… “My name is Optimus Prime, Autobots, roll out”…to animation… “I am vengeance, I am the knight, I am Batman”,…and so much more… “Ba da ba ba ba I’m lovin’ it”…Welcome to Episode Three.
Announcer: Welcome to who did that voice The show where we take an in depth look at the world of voiceover including movies, TV, animation, and more. And now here’s your host, Trenton Larkin.
Trenton Larkin: Hello, everyone. Today on the show. We have Kyle Kurtz, who is an old high school chum, and good friend. Kyle, thank you so much for joining us today.
Kyle Kurtz: Thank you, man. It’s great to be here. It’s great to catch up with you again. It’s been years.
Trenton Larkin: You’re absolutely right, Kyle, it has been way too long. It’s great to catch up with you, Kyle, the first thing I like to do is get a little feel and understanding of who our guest is on the show. Would you please tell our listeners? Who are you Kyle, tell us your story.
Kyle Kurtz: Oh, sure, man. Well, I grew up in a I’m from the Kansas City area. So Midwest, you know, all that stuff, basic family upbringing, parents split up when I was 10. But I was raised in my mom’s side, mostly, very performance based household. So she was a music teacher for 30 years before she retired like a decade ago. And so performance was a huge part of my life. The church choirs of kids theater, obviously a ham growing up. So basically anything I could, I could dress up in. If I turned into a superhero costume I was many different forms of Superman if he had accessories on many different forms of Batman, you know, always performing around the house just being a little idiot and just entertaining my family and friends where I could. So that hasn’t changed much being an idiot. But that carried over the middle school high school. And that’s where I met you, man High School and did theater together. And our parents were friends. And then when they went to high school, and so it’s only fitting that we carry on the carry on the tradition for families.
Trenton Larkin: Oh, absolutely. Man, it was pretty amazing to be going to high school with you considering our parents had had been in the same place your mom was a little like a year older than my dad and grade wise and I was grade under you. So it was like repeating history with our family generations and lineage. So it was quite awesome to act with you.
Kyle Kurtz: Right? It was great, man. I miss those. Those are great day Music Man and Guys and Dolls.
Trenton Larkin: Wow, those definitely bring back some good memories from yesteryear. So Kyle, besides your family being such a theatrically and musically inclined family, were there any other contributing factors to you pursuing an acting and voiceover career?
Kyle Kurtz: Really, it’s it’s being onstage in front of people, unlike a lot of people who get scared on a microphone or get in front of people. And it’s inside DJ weddings right now, like I see this a lot with with a toast, people are just they’re mortified. They’re petrified to be up there with a microphone in their hand. And then of course, their speech doesn’t go that well because of their fear. But I just never I never encountered that I love having a microphone in my hand if I had a chance to talk to people and entertain them or tell a joke or something like I love that doing that. I felt that was kind of like my job. I felt like I was meant to do that. So I guess not having that innate fear of performance really makes you comfortable behind the microphone or onstage wherever I happen to be.
Trenton Larkin: So your lack of fear inspired you to to become more involved in acting,
Kyle Kurtz: Sure yeah, absolutely. I mean, I love I love you kind of have to I mean, I know that some performers get nervous. And still even pros get nervous as they should, because it keeps them on their toes. And I still encounter that whether I’m you know, in a in a studio or on stage, and it just you still get that nervousness. And that’s good because it keeps you alive. And that’s what kind of helps I live for that that adrenaline rush, if you will, like it makes me makes me want to do more primetime player like I feel like I have to step up and be the best I can do. So best that inspires me every day.
Trenton Larkin: So it’s not really like the fear of you know, you have that innate fear that any actor has that kind of inspires them and motivates them to continue on. But it’s the it’s not so much fear that it keeps you from doing it at all.
Kyle Kurtz: Right? It’s that it’s that fear control, you control your fear. You don’t, it’s still there. It’s just what you do with it.
Trenton Larkin: They don’t let it control you.
Kyle Kurtz: Right, exactly. A lot of pros. They don’t let it control them. They control it. They use the adrenaline rush from that to fuel their performance.
Trenton Larkin: So with voiceover for radio DJing and that kind of stuff. Was that something you had thought about doing when you were younger? Since you were doing kind of acting and singing and everything in high school and through schooling and everything? Had you considered doing DJing and radio or was that something that just kind of came about?
Kyle Kurtz: Um, it kind of came about like when you’re young when you’re a kid You have these great ideas. But the problem with those great ideas is that they’re really broad or vague. So a lot of kids, you know, they might want to be an actor or a movie star, or, you know, you’re gonna like a astronaut or a ninja, all this stuff. They have these broad, vague goals and stuff. But because they’re kids, we don’t understand, you know how intricate the world is as kids. So as you grow up, and you get more life experiences, your passions or your interests start to take on a specific shape. And so I saw when I got into college, I loved performing with choir and theater and all that business. But I saw this is an avenue in radio when I was in college, using my voice to perform live, but it was on the air. It really, it really developed for me from there, like being on a microphone started in college. Like, that’s what radio all picked up. In college, like I was a music major, and we had a public radio station on campus. And they hired music majors for the evening shift, because we could pronounce the classical name. We didn’t completely biff them, like all the other kids did. Music majors did the classical shifts at night. And when I did my first shift, my first on air show, you know, I talked maybe three times the whole hour for you know, 30 seconds, not even 30 seconds, maybe 30 seconds total. But that first hour, I did that I was completely hooked because I knew I was alive, I push that button. I was live, I was talking to the people, they could hear me, you know, and that again, that adrenaline rush kicked in. And that that got me hooked even though I was just doing classical music for you know, two, three hours a night in college like it spoke to me I was like man, this is I was fun. I had a great time doing that and then that built into daytime shifts and morning news shifts where like I was given some real responsibility with covering the community and writing stories and producing the shows and you know it all built from there in college and but man it just started with that little spark, you know, and I had to do more radio, I had to be on the air more I had to experience all that again.
Trenton Larkin: So working for the radio station, were there times where they need to do to do voiceovers for commercials are call letter segments for the station.
Kyle Kurtz: Oh, absolutely. Sure, sure. It’s basically in public radio is different because it’s called underwriting a bunch of commercial sponsor, it just basically says “This program is brought to you by such and such,” you know, a department on campus or a business in town like it’s called underwriting. So it’s it’s handled a little differently than, say, like pop or rock radio, but still need to record that stuff. So yeah, I recorded that stuff. I produced all these spots, spots for our Bearcat Sports Network. So all the our affiliates who carry the Bearcat football and basketball games, they heard those spots too.
Trenton Larkin: You’re mentioning the Bearcats now give a shout out what is your alma mater there?
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, Go Bearcats, Northwest Missouri State University. That’s where I went to school. And honestly, it’s one of those schools where they believe more in practical experience.
Trenton Larkin: Hands on.
Kyle Kurtz: So if your teachers, right, hands on exactly. So, you know, if you’re a teacher, if you’re an elementary school that on campus for teaching, if you’re in radio, they give you a radio to talk on my two, there’s two stations in that building for students. And that’s very, very rare. And I’m you know, and very, very valuable because they don’t a lot of schools kind of throw you out there like, Hey, there you go. But Northwest actually give you a chance to be on the air on a high power stations. And that’s just that’s just sort of invaluable right there as you can’t buy that kind of experience. Like I mean, you kind of can because I paid for college, but…
Trenton Larkin: Well, that’s most excellent that they give you that firsthand experience. That’s just amazing. You know, I mean, you really don’t get that in most schooling situations.
Kyle Kurtz: No, you don’t you sit in your nose in a book for you know, eight hours a day, and you don’t get to actually do anything, you know, real experience. So it, it makes it so much easier, and you up your game much faster when you have that experience, so…
Trenton Larkin: I find it most fascinating to hear how your firsthand experience and training really helped you excel. Speaking of training, have you had any professional vocal training that’s helped you in your acting, singing and radio career?
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, man. I did. I was actually a music performance major. So I had voice lessons and piano lessons. And those are very, very good. I had a couple of very, very good professors who helped me out with that. But what I learned and we might talk about this in a minute. But I got into I got into cheerleading while I was in college, and just using my voice properly was was very, very key, especially as I use my voice all the time and radio and singing and cheerleading like I had to learn how to use my voice properly without wrecking it. Doing those voice lessons really helped me to speak from the correct position, how to not over exert my voice, like you’re at a sports game or whatever, all that stuff, so that, you know, I had to learn how to be very careful with my voice and voice lessons. We’re very, very instrumental in that, so to speak.
Trenton Larkin: Well, it’s good to know that vocal training is definitely a key factor in helping you train for the voiceover industry so that you do know how to take care of your voice, whether you’re singing, acting, doing voiceovers, whatever it is, it’s it’s very crucial.
Kyle Kurtz: Or doing podcasts you know.
Trenton Larkin: (chuckles) Or doing podcasts, Absolutely.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah. Cuz you’re your voice your livelihood.
Trenton Larkin: Very much, very much so. So Kyle was voiceover work something that you had planned for, or did it just kind of come about because I know you’ve done some actual commercials for I believe Starlight Theatre and some different companies there in Kansas City.
Kyle Kurtz: Right? It kind of is based on my connections. Because really, I did all that voiceover work in in college and made a lot of good connections from there because you know, radio people, you always stay in touch with each other and your network. Umm I did. I worked in Kansas City at Mix 93.3 for the morning show, you know, it’s pop radio, I worked in Lincoln, Nebraska. I did a night show there through I DJ. Now I do like wedding an event DJ stuff during the summer and helps pay the bills and it’s really fun to do a lot of fun events. But I got my voiceover opportunity with Starlight by doing that with a guy from remember Adam Watson from high school?
Trenton Larkin: Yes, yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, he was in umm. He works for Starlight Theatre. And he didn’t work for that particular department that I that I hooked up with for the voiceovers. But I was somebody he knew he could recommend.
Trenton Larkin: Yeah, absolutely.
Kyle Kurtz: Right. So he, he helped get me involved with a part of the marketing team, I think so he called me up and got that set up. And it really, it’s just, it’s just who you know, man, and I can’t stress that enough. Like, regardless of you know, what, we talked about it for our professions or whatever, it’s really who you know, and how many connections you can make and, and don’t be a jerk, basically.
Trenton Larkin: Yeah, yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: Cuz you never know who might you might need to do something for you, or who might need you to do something for them. And that’s how I got set up. So now I’m the voice of Starlight Theatre, commercials, you know, TV and radio, which is super cool.
Trenton Larkin: Oh, wow. So you’re like their official voice now?
Kyle Kurtz: I mean, as long as they’ll have me.
Trenton Larkin: Well, that’s amazing. I thought you just done a couple commercials. That’s fascinating. I didn’t know that.
Kyle Kurtz: Oh, yeah. Well, I sat in the studio for hours knocked out all these commercials the entire 2016 season. And they said, Well, this is great. We’ll see you next year. And I was like, sweet.
Trenton Larkin: I’ll mark it in my calendar now.
Kyle Kurtz: Right. Exactly. I will keep it open. Yeah, man. It’s, It’s, It’s, connections. It’s it’s making those connections and talking to as many people as you can being friendly, you know, putting pride in your work, because people will see that and even marketing yourself to a degree on social media. Like I’ve seen people market themselves so hard on social media, and it’s cool, but they saturate it with their stuff. And it takes on a braggart kind of tone.
Trenton Larkin: Absolutely. Yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: You know, and it’s just, it becomes overwhelming. It’s like, cool, we get it, you’re into voiceovers, I get it alright sweet. But if you have to do a good job where other people are bragging for you, that carries so much more weight, because to an extent you have to let people know you’re out there. But also, if people are doing the talking for you, then that even expands your circle more because they’re like, Oh, well, this guy says this, then, you know, it’s not just this guy blowing, tooting his own horn. Really? It’s other people.
Trenton Larkin: Absolutely. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah. So how big you build your network is so so crucial to especially in the voiceover industry, when jobs are, Oh man, few and far between you have to, especially when regular work I should say is few and far between, like, you may have a ton of one off gigs, but you want something regular, that was what really pays the bills. So if you’re a regular person for somebody, then that helps you a lot more but but again, you have to cultivate those relationships and and make that happen.
Trenton Larkin: So what would you say to somebody who’s trying to look at becoming a voiceover artist? Or to get into the industry? How do they start networking? If they don’t feel they have those kind of connections? What would you suggest to them?
Kyle Kurtz: First of all, practice, practice, practice, like practice your voice, do different, I mean, depends what kind of voiceover work you’re looking to get. If you’re looking to get into cartoons, then you better have like, five voices, five different completely different voices ready to go to show people or demos, if you will, if you’re looking to get into commercial work, if you read, read different lines of different emotions, you know, take something, take an advertisement you see in the paper, and read it as if you’re on the radio and try and discern an emotion from that, you know, the different the variables, the variety that you can give a potential employer, it’s huge. You see these guys who do like one voice, and they’re famous for that. I can guarantee you that they had different demos lined up that don’t sound anything like they do now, because they had to cast a wide net, they had to have so many voices or so many different readings in the bag. And this one employer just happened to like this particular one, and that’s the only one they do now because they became famous for it. It became marketed so well. So I guess I could say my one line to a potential voiceover artist is cast a wide net. That means cast a wide net with who you talk to, and cast a wide net with what you can do personally, in your profession. So provide different angles for people. And that will get you in the door to a lot of places, then if it’s something catches on, you can cultivate that particular voice or that particular reading or that particular line or what have you, you can make that your own. But if you don’t have a variety of things to show people, then you’ve kind of pigeon holed yourself. And you can’t be surprised that you’re not meeting a quality range of people in that respects. That makes sense.
Trenton Larkin: Absolutely, Kyle. So realistically, what you’re saying is, number one, cultivate your own expertise by practice, practice, practice, because that’s number one. And number two is by you were you know, you were talking about those five voices, those should be probably five original voices. Correct. Not just five voices, you’re mimicking.
Kyle Kurtz: Right, exactly. That’s actually very good point. I mean, if you can mimic somebody like I’d say that for parties, like, it’s like, oh, well, I can do five voices for Family Guy. Okay, cool. Here’s the problem, Family Guy already a big thing, and you’re not in the cast? Like, how much good is that really gonna do you? So if you’re at a party with your friends, you’re pulling out those voices? Yeah, it’s funny, it might get you. It might even get you some YouTube notoriety, you know, but to a certain point, you know, these employers call to say, okay, you can do like five Family Guy voices. Great, but you do five original voices. So to your point, yes, five original voices are very key, because that’s what’s going to make you the money in the long term. YouTube views don’t necessarily always equal money.
Trenton Larkin: Dollars in the bank.
Kyle Kurtz: Right, exactly. Because I can guarantee you all people who have original YouTube channels, that’s the key word original, they made up their own stuff. And now they’re making serious bank off of that.
Trenton Larkin: Yeah that makes sense.
Kyle Kurtz: So yeah, original voices are definitely key.
Trenton Larkin: You know, Kyle, I absolutely agree with you on that. As far as voiceover work goes, have you considered pursuing a more focused career towards voiceover since you have kind of had some exposure now with Starlight?
Kyle Kurtz: Yes, absolutely. I’m getting my demos from Starlight and I will plan on sending that out to different studios and to different I’m gonna put on social media, of course, because that spreads like wildfire. You just never know who might need your services. So I’ll definitely be sending out that demo and for and for a huge company like Starlight, a very well respected heritage based company like Starlight, they’ve been around forever, and they put on quality shows forever. So to be affiliated with that is definitely a feather in my cap. You know, I’d love to do it for as long as they will have me as far as voiceover work like that stuff is. So any, any aspiring voiceover artists will have found out already. Like it’s tough. Even if you’re in a big city where there’s a lot of opportunities, so to speak. It’s tough, man. It’s so tough, like you jobs, the jobs just trickle in. And then there’ll be points where you think, my God, am I ever gonna make any money off of this or, you know, whatever. But you sort of keep plugging away, man, he’s got to keep plugging away. And I’ve actually gotten into pa announcing, so public address announcing, which is, like high school games, you know, I’ve coached High School cheer. And so I’m getting into doing all that. Because you people who say, Well, I don’t, I’ll never be a voiceover and I can’t get my voice out there. I said, Well, what else are you doing? That goes back to the variety and originality part. You know, are you putting yourself behind any microphone, you can find whether it’s at a high school basketball game, or you’re announcing some kind of shows or your man anything really, like put yourself behind the microphone, and that is what’s going to get you some voiceover work, because a lot of the voiceover fame, famous people, they they also did other announcing things. They just happen to say, Oh, well, I don’t do voiceovers. And then that kind of took off from there.
Trenton Larkin: Yeah, so it’s like if there’s a need find it and fill it with your voice.
Kyle Kurtz: Correct? Correct. Because you know, if your voice isn’t out there whos gana know ya.
Trenton Larkin: Very true.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah. And that can lead from there. I mean, like, like I said, cast a wide net, you have to put yourself as far and wide as possible from a different range of things. And if something catches on, there you go. But if you don’t do it, then you’d be like, well, I got this one talent. And then you’re waiting for somebody to bank on that one talent you have, you know, that one particular use for your voice. You have to get you get yourself behind the mic and have to.
Trenton Larkin: It’s a good word, Kyle. Well, man, I want to know what is your favorite cartoon from when you were growing up? And why?
Kyle Kurtz: Oh, man, that’s a good question. I, I consider myself a connoisseur of cartoons when we were little.
Trenton Larkin: (laughs) I’m right there with you brother.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, I’ve watched everything. Oh, my gosh, I have my go to was always Looney Tunes. Is always Looney Tunes. Just because they were everywhere. Looney Tunes are everywhere like that. And Tom and Jerry were everywhere. I watched those like TBS and TNT and all those. I watched those all the time. When I when we came home from school, like, like three or four o’clock in the afternoon. I was watching Batman The Animated Series.
Trenton Larkin: Oh, yeah. Kevin Conroy, man.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah. Kevin Conroy Oh, my God, the legend. He’s been Batman. I guarantee he’s been doing voiceover work forever but you know 20 some years ago Batman just caught on.
Trenton Larkin: Yeah, and Loren Lester as Robin man Holy cow.
Kyle Kurtz: Oh yes. And unless we forget Mark Hamill as the Joker.
Trenton Larkin: Oh, how could you forget? How could you forget that?
Kyle Kurtz: Genius voiceover performance like and of course we know Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, but he his voiceover work just exploded especially when he when he became the Joker for the series because that series as a kid, it’s cool because its Batman, you know, he’s fighting the bad guys, and whatever. But as an adult, you appreciate the darkness and the the adult tone of that cartoon. And some of the adult themed storylines, like the Joker was an evil son of a gun. He was just the straight of evil and Mark Hamill brought that to life as a guy who wanted to watch the world burn.
Trenton Larkin: But he still kept it kid friendly. You know, it was like, you could tell how evil he was. But it was still good for Saturday morning cartoons, you know,
Kyle Kurtz: Right. I think they just kept the the only thing that kept him from being like TV 14 or whatever. There was no blood or guts or sex or any of that stuff. It just was just darkly themed, so adults can enjoy it too. But Mark Hamill, Oh my goodness. Like he brought that character to life. And now he is the Joker and Kevin Conroy is Batman. So now as a voiceover guy, I truly appreciate what they bring and how you have to keep that voice alive through practice and maintaining your health regimen. And you know, these guys are always doing that’s their money if that voice goes or if that somehow they just don’t can’t pick up the Batman sense anymore or whatever then that’s it they lose that money that they’re out.
Trenton Larkin: Absolutely Yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: The pressure is on them now to maintain that character. So it’s I appreciate it now more as an adult and as a voiceover artists like what those guys even if they do you know cartoons regularly like it, man, they have to show up to work every day. And that is what they do. That is their job. So much respect to them.
Trenton Larkin: Absolutely. Yeah. So your favorite cartoon show was Looney Tunes. But who was your favorite character on the show?
Kyle Kurtz: On Looney Tunes?
Trenton Larkin: Yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: Oh, man. bugs,
Trenton Larkin: Bugs.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, Bugs Bunny had all the answers.
Trenton Larkin: Mel Blanc, man.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, of course. Like Mel yeah, Mel Blanc. Like he voiced 1000 probably literally 1000 characters in his lifetime and none more famous than Bugs Bunny. He he brought the character to life and Bugs just Bugs antics are just so much fun. He was evil, sarcastic too, which as an adult, I appreciate he had a little sarcasm to him, which was fun. But as a kid, I mean, I have no shame in saying Bugs Bunny was my favorite. He was he was a great character.
Trenton Larkin: That is super awesome man. Well, Kyle, what is your favorite Disney movie? And why?
Kyle Kurtz: Ah, man another good question. You mean you’re hitting the hard questions today. Like you’re asking me to choose favorite children or something.
Trenton Larkin: (Laughs) That’s a little bit different.
Kyle Kurtz: I know but just being dramatic. You know me. I would say the one that stands out to me the most is Lion King. I love the Lion King. Everything about the movie was perfect. The voices the the atmosphere of it how it took on a darker tone later, like the heroes and Pride Rock. We’re in some real peril. Like even for Disney they were in real peril because Scar was taking over and the Pride Lands were just a mess. And the soundtrack, Oh my god, the soundtrack. I bought the soundtrack separately. Not even hesitating because it’s such an excellent soundtrack to it. Tim Rice and Alan Menken just killed it with a soundtrack.
Trenton Larkin: It’s gorgeous music, that’s for sure.
Kyle Kurtz: Oh, yeah. I appreciate now more of the Disney Pixar movies. I think those are fantastic. My favorite Disney Pixar is Wall-e.
Trenton Larkin: Oh, that’s an amazing show, man.
Kyle Kurtz: Oh, and if you notice in the first 30 minutes of the movie, there’s no voices, nobody talks except for like that little Guys and Dolls video that he plays or whatever.
Trenton Larkin: Yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: But other than that, for the first like 30 minutes of the movie, nobody talks and they use a robot and and surrounding and interacting with the surrounding to not only one set up the story, but advance the story within 30 minutes. So it’s probably my favorite Disney Pixar movie.
Trenton Larkin: Well, absolutely. And I loved Wall-e because of the Hello Dolly aspect that they threw into it, which it’s like, who knows that movie in today’s society unless you’re a musical lover like us, and I loved how they threw that in there because you know, people wanted to know what that movie was after they saw it in Wall-e.
Kyle Kurtz: Absolutely. And the fact that they’re getting all these, um they are giving actors more facets to work with.
Trenton Larkin: Absolutely, yeah. Well Kyle, do you have an inspirational or motivational quote for us today?
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, I do. Actually. It’s funny because I came upon this one not too long ago. My my original quotes I mean, any quotes change because change because your life changes as it should. I’ve always loved the Dr. Seuss quotes, “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter. And those who matter don’t mind”.
Trenton Larkin: I like that.
Kyle Kurtz: That’s been my kinda overall quote, but I found one I got one just one more since I coach high schoolers. I inherited this team from a coach who didn’t really have the kids best interest at heart or the team’s best interests at heart. So the kids were all like, well done this way, I don’t know if we can change it or what can we do how and I needed to empower the kids, I needed to empower them to make changes in their life. And that doesn’t just go with cheerleading, this goes for your attitude, this goes for your life situation, you know, whatever it is, this quote can apply. And it’s actually it’s Socrates, who was a Greek philosopher, you know, way back in ancient Greece, he came up with this, he said, “The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new”. So instead of fighting all those old feelings, and battling with all the old habits and battling with all the old people and situations and times, start building the new one you have, you know, what you want to do find a vision of what you want. And that’s the new vision then focus all your energy on building around that and there in lies your success and to successfully change yourself by just eliminating all of the old things that because that’s not that’s how time in life works all the old and I’m sure there’s verses in various texts that you know back that up but you know, all the old shall pass away all they’re all what is old is, you know, it’ll be gone like focus on what’s new, how you can evolve, how you can change for the better. And Socrates, you know, in his infinite wisdom back in ancient Greece, said, Forget the old you know, you don’t need that anymore. If we want to move forward, you can build on the new I feel like that would go for any life avenue you may encounter with yourself or with somebody else or what have you.
Trenton Larkin: Absolutely, that’s a those are good couple of quotes. I really enjoyed those, Kyle. thank you so much. Well, are there any up and coming projects that you’re working on that you can share with us today, Kyle?
Kyle Kurtz: For cheer music, there’s a uh, for people who have heard cheerleading music, all the upbeat, like techno kind of sounding music, with all the voices on it and stuff. There’s a new law out for cheer music, I mean, it’s been around, it’s now just being enforced, where you can’t just take a pop song and mixed together you have to create a custom original arrangement for cheer teams.
Trenton Larkin: Goodness gracious, really?
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, for real. I mean, it’s the law has always been around it just never was enforced until somebody ratted ratted somebody out that whole thing. I mean, it’s a deep dark story, but it’s basically producers, music producers now have to come up with original content. So now, less they get sued by music companies for playing the music without permission in a public setting, such as a cheer competition,
Trenton Larkin: Like the ones at Disney that are massive.
Kyle Kurtz: Yeah, those are national world competitions. I those are the biggest stages. Absolutely. So yes, absolutely. They Um, so basically, there’s a ton of work now for producers for just a few people. But they have to create, keep creating custom stuff. So now I’m getting into doing voiceovers for that, whether I’m rapping or singing or you know, yelling a line or something like that, for producers. That’s kind of what I’m getting into now. And there’s actually just kind of a hot tip for any upcoming voiceover artists, find a cheer music producer and hook up with them. Because there will be so much custom work. Like not only do you just get to read stuff, but you can also come up with content as well. So you can find regular work with true music producers now, because they have to keep coming up with all this custom arrangement of stuff. Yeah. And that’s, that’s free advice for the day for people.
Trenton Larkin: Yeah.
Kyle Kurtz: But yeah, find a cheer music producer near you and go talk to them about being their voiceover. Because they were going to have a ton of people on their roster to do voiceover stuff and to come up with lines and songs and lyrics and stuff. Because otherwise they can’t do anything that’s already out there. Or else they get sued by music companies.
Trenton Larkin: Well, that is definitely a whole nother aspect of what this show is about and that I didn’t even know of yet. So that’s, that’s fascinating. I really appreciate you sharing that with us today, Kyle.
Kyle Kurtz: No problem man.
Trenton Larkin: Thank you so much for being on the show today. Would you just close us out? maybe do a little announcer voice or something for us and tell everyone who what show you’re listening to.
Kyle Kurtz: Ladies and Gentlemen, you are listening to Trenton Larkin on Who Did That Voice podcast. It’s going to be the hottest thing on iTunes. Coming to an iPod, iPhone, computer, media device near you. Be sure to subscribe to it when it gets out. Who Did That Voice?
Trenton Larkin: Hey, everyone, and thanks so much for listening to today’s episode of Who Did That Voice. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please check us out online on all social media platforms that whodidthatvoice and on YouTube at whodidthatvoice24. Also remember to check out our website whodidthatvoice.org. Again, that’s www.whodidthatvoice.org Thank you to all my listeners out there. I just wanted to say if you want to partner with Who Did That Voice, just telling your friends and family about us is the best way to share the show with others and or leaving us a review on Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast from. The third and final way is by joining our patreon @patreon.com/whodidthatvoice.
Announcer: Thank you for joining us today. We’ll see you next time for more discoveries on who did that voice
